Summer Fever
by Akiko Natsuko
Summary: With the autumn elections looming on the horizon Isshiki had accepted that they weren't going to get to spend as much of the summer holiday together as he wanted...what he hadn't counted on, although really he should have known, was his idiotic boyfriend working himself into the ground.


Isshiki grumbled under his breath as he drifted awake, immediately rolling over and reaching out, fully intending to cuddle closer to Soma and go back to sleep as he was fairly sure that he hadn't been asleep nearly long enough for it to be time to get up. However, his searching fingers came up with nothing, but cool sheets and his eyes flew open at that realization, all traces of sleep disappearing as he confirmed what his hands had told him, he was currently the only one in the bed…again. The grumbling became a curse as he sat up, rubbing a hand across bleary eyes before peering across at the alarm clock, the weak light from the open widow telling him that it was barely dawn, the neon displays on the clock confirming that guess.

Waking up that early wasn't really an unusual thing at Totsuki, as it was meant to help prepare them for when they were out there working in the real world. However, now it was summer break and the dormitory was practically empty as everyone had headed home for a rest and to practice for the elections in peace and quiet, and he'd been looking forward to the opportunity to make the most of the chance to snuggle with his boyfriend and actually have lie ins. Getting Soma to take said break with him was proving to be more of a challenge than he'd anticipated, but as he glanced at the clock once more his eyes narrowed with determination. Come hell or high water he was going to get at least one morning of cuddling in bed, and for that he needed Soma, and with that thought in mind he shoved the covers aside and slipped out of bed.

One or two late nights was to be expected, what with the upcoming elections hovering over the younger boy, especially as the topic lay outside of his comfort zone. But this was the fifth time this week alone that he'd woken to an empty bed, and he very much doubted that his boyfriend was managing to catch more than an hour or two's sleep a day. No one could keep that pace up for long, and sooner or later Soma was going to crash and crash hard, and Isshiki was determined to stop that from happening if he could. At the very least he needed to make sure that Soma caught up on his rest before the preliminaries started, aware that nearly everyone was out to defeat his boyfriend and refusing to let the red-head scupper his own chances due to lack of sleep.

Yanking on his apron and trying to ignore the chill creeping up his skin he headed for the door, knowing that there were only two places that he would find the red-head at this time of day, and he silently thanked his lucky stars that Soma wasn't one to wander too far. His first stop was Soma's room, quietly peering inside when his knock had been met by silence and carefully turning on the light he winced at the mess that met his eyes. He hadn't seen inside for a couple of days and the difference was a shock, Soma was usually fairly tidy, but now the room was covered with notes and various experiments and he shook his head, aware that he would probably be roped into tidying up when Soma grew annoyed with the mess. However, for the time being the most important thing was that there was no sign of the redhead. Which meant that he was in the kitchen, and he groaned softly as he turned off the light and stepped out of the room, knowing that he was going to have a fight on his hands as it would be harder to pull Soma away if he was cooking.

A fond smile replaced his somewhat grumpy expression as he made his way down the stairs, gradually becoming aware of the fragrance coming from the direction of the kitchen, and he could feel his stomach beginning to grumble even though it was too early for food, especially curry. Still he couldn't stop himself from taking more deep breaths as he reached the kitchen, savouring the smell, easily able to detect the amount of progress that Soma had made since his earliest experiments. A small triumphant smirk spread across his face, he'd never really doubted it, but that smell reassured him that Soma would easily be able to make it through the preliminaries, and the smirk softened into a smile as he opened the door with the intention of telling Soma just that… once he'd convinced him to come back to bed of course.

However, all happy thoughts skidded to a halt as he stepped inside, his smile dying instantly as he finally set eyes on his wayward boyfriend. Soma had been looking pale all week, and it had been hard to miss the dark shadows that had been growing beneath his eyes, yet another reason why Isshiki was so keen to make him rest. Now though the younger boy looked terrible, all colour had been drained from his face making the bags under his eyes look like he'd been punched, but even more concerning was the bright red now suffusing both cheeks, and somehow Isshiki doubted that was a result of his cooking and he sighed. _This is what I warned you about idiot_…He thought silently, calmly ignoring the fact that he done something very similar before his own Autumn elections, instead focusing on working out how he was going to convince Soma to rest.

"Soma," he called softly not wanting to startle the red-head, however, despite his best efforts Soma jolted violently at his voice sending the bowl he was holding flying across the counter. Isshiki winced, but his concern sky-rocketed a moment later as he realised that Soma didn't seem to have noticed what had happened, glazed amber eyes sluggishly turning in his direction. _Soma..._

"Isshiki?

"The one and only," he quipped weakly, only managing to summon up an echo of his usual smile as he closed the distance between them, not liking the fact that Soma appeared even worse up close. _I should have stepped in earlier_…The younger teen blinked at him, clearly not quite up to their usual kind of conversation before his gaze drifted back to his work, and Isshiki sighed. _Not going to make it easy then…_Seeing Soma reaching out towards one of the other bowls he swiftly intercepted the other's hand, grasping it with his own and waiting patiently for the younger to refocus on him, not liking how long it took for Soma to realise what was happening. "I think you need to rest." _That's got to be the understatement of the year…_

"No…I have to…" Soma gestured helplessly towards his experiments, clearly not able to summon up the words in his current state, but there was a hint of his usual stubbornness shining through when he tried to pull his hand free. Isshiki wasn't having any of it though, and after a moment Soma's efforts ceased with a low whine of complaint as he turned his gaze back towards him. "Isshiki…"

"Please?" It was time to try a different track, although given the lack of focus in the amber eyes it was about to be as successful as his first attempt, and he bit back a growl when Soma stubbornly shook his head in response. He understood the preliminaries were important, hell, they were more important that Soma probably realised; and that the experiments lined up on the counter were necessary because of that. However, there was no way he was going to let Soma push himself any further towards a collapse. "All right you leave me no choice!" Soma was always a man of action, so maybe that was the way to get through to him, and if not, it would still achieve his main aim of getting the idiot up to bed before he made himself worse. Not giving the younger teen time to argue he released his hand and grabbed him, sweeping Soma up in his arms, for once glad of the muscles that the work in the garden had given him.

"Put me down!" Soma wasn't making it easy for him, wiggling in his arms and trying to escape, but he hung on grimly. _Sorry, but this is for you own good_, he apologised silently when the younger teen whined when his attempts were thwarted, carefully avoiding the pleading look he could feel being sent in his direction, aware that he still hadn't built up much a defence against that look and that he couldn't afford to back down this time. Thankfully it didn't take long for Soma to wear himself out, still muttering soft protests even as he slumped in Isshiki's arms, and the older boy let out a soft sigh of relief, lips curving into a faint smile when despite his grumbles the red-head snuggled against him, his eyes already beginning to droop. Dipping his head slightly he pressed a chaste kiss to the boy's forehead, not liking the heat coming from Soma and his arms tightened around him as he turned and headed for the door, relieved when he got nothing more than a sleepy whine as Soma realised what was happening.

By the time he got them back to his room Soma was virtually asleep, and it was with difficulty and a great deal of reluctance that Isshiki roused the red-head enough to take some medicine and drink some water, barely managing to rescue the glass before it fell from limp fingers. Carefully setting them aside he stepped back and studied the younger teen, sighing as he realised that Soma had already dozed off. _Not how I imagined this holiday going_, he thought, hesitating for a moment before crawling into bed beside Soma, managing to pull the covers over them both before he was abruptly tackled by an overly warm body. I_diot_…Gently he pulled the shorter boy closer, curling himself around Soma and bringing the other's head to rest against his chest, smiling at the contented mumble that met the action. Not quite how I imagined our lie-in…He thought as he began to card his fingers through the messy red hair, reluctant to fall asleep in case Soma got worse, but determined to make the most of the situation.

Soma groaned softly he drifted awake, frowning as he realised that he was lying on something soft, sure that the last thing he could recall was being in the kitchen and working on his spices for the curry and he was sure that he wasn't there anymore. _Did Isshiki carry me to bed?_ His cheeks heated up at the mere thought of it, the older boy had already proved that he was more than capable of doing just that, having thrown the red-head over his shoulder weeks ago when Soma had been refusing to take a break to eat. Grimacing at both that thought, and the headache that was slowly making itself known behind his eyes, he cautiously eased his eyes open, blinking as the ceiling seemed to swim in and out of focus for a moment. _I'm definitely not in the kitchen_…It took him a moment to realise that he was in one of the bedrooms, and the worried face that appeared in his line of vision a moment later told him that he was most likely in the older boy's room. _Damn it… he really did carry me, again didn't he?_

"Isshiki…" He muttered, coughing as the words scraped past his surprisingly dry throat and he nearly cried with relief when Isshiki disappeared only to reappear a moment later with a glass of water. Gently the older boy helped ease him into an upright position, slipping an arm behind him to support him and urging him to drink slowly, bopping him on the nose with a finger when he tried to gulp it down despite the warnings. Catching the glint in the blue eyes that usually spelt trouble for him Soma forced himself to slow down, although he only managed a couple more sips before he'd had enough, not even needing to say anything as Isshiki immediately abandoned the glass on the bedside table before helping to rearrange him on the pillows.

"How are you feeling?"

"Like crap," Soma muttered with a groan as he shifted slightly, realising that there didn't seem to be a single part of him that didn't ache, although the pain was worse in his head. Hissing slightly, he lifted a hand and pressed it against his head, not liking how much effort it took to do even that much, before slowly turning his gaze towards his boyfriend. "What the hell happened?"

"You overworked yourself," Isshiki replied softly, making no effort to hide his worry in the hopes that it would encourage the redhead to be more cooperative, although from the stubborn expression that had already reappeared on his boyfriend's face it wasn't going to be that easy. "You've been ill with a fever for the last two days, and at one point I thought I might need to take you to the hospital." He might have been overstating it just a little, but he knew that there would be no keeping the idiot in bed if he thought for a moment that it hadn't been that serious. Besides they had very nearly called the doctor out the first night, only the fact that Soma had started to respond to the medicine they had given him at the last moment stopping them.

"Two days…?" Soma had missed the rest of what the older boy was saying, a small flicker of panic rising at the thought that he had lost so much time that he could have been using to experiment. Frantically he pushed himself up, struggling as his arms threatened to give way beneath him, but stubbornly trying to nudge the blankets aside. "I need to…" He trailed off as his arms finally gave way, and it was only Isshiki's quick actions that stopped him from falling back completely, and he groaned as he the room swayed around him, pressing his face against the older boy in the hopes of getting it to stop.

"Rest," Isshiki finished for him in a soft voice, reaching up to run his fingers through bed-mussed hair until Soma relaxed slightly, before allowing a hint of steel to enter his voice as he added. "You're not leaving this bed until I say so." As if it will be as easy as that, he added silently to himself, unsurprised when barely a moment later the younger teen had pulled back to look up at him in alarm, protests on the end of his tongue.

"But…"

"Soma," Isshiki cut across him sharply, gratified to see Soma bite off the rest of his protests looking somewhat shocked by his tone, reaching out to grasp his boyfriend's hand he tried to soften his approach a little, not wanting to argue with the teen. Especially when it was clear that he was still far from completely well, amber eyes already growing heavy with sleep once more, and he squeezed Soma's fingers before gently nudging the other boy back down into a lying position. "You're not going to be able to get through the preliminaries if you make yourself ill, so focus on getting better for now."

Soma looked like he was still contemplating arguing further, but after a moment he heaved a sigh of defeat before tugging weakly on the hand still holding his, turning a pleading look towards the older boy who tensed at the puppy-dog eyes now being sent in his direction_. Don't look at me like that…_

"Stay with me?"

Isshiki blinked at the quiet request, watching with bemusement for a moment as colour that had nothing to do with the lingering remains of the fever spread across his boyfriend's face, lips curving into a warm smile. _Idiot…_Leaning in he pressed a quick kiss to Soma's lips, before willingly lying down beside the younger boy, unsurprised when Soma immediately plastered himself against his chest as though to stop him escaping. _As though I have any intention of doing that_... Letting out a soft oomph he reached around the younger teen and carefully extracted the covers so that he could pull them over them both, before wrapping his arms around his boyfriend, laughing softly as he realised that the other was already asleep, beginning to snore softly.

"Idiot…of course I'll stay," he whispered in reply even though Soma couldn't hear him, leaning down to press a kiss to the top of the other's head, closing his eyes in contentment. He wasn't fooled…he knew that it was going to be a fight to get the other to rest until he was completely better, but the worry of the past couple of days was receding as Soma snuggled against him with a sleepy mumble of his name and something that sounded suspiciously like 'thanks...love you', and he tightened his arms around the smaller boy.

_Idiot, I love you too._


End file.
